everything everywhere all at once
Top of the mornin’ to ya! Or afternoon, depending on where you’re based.
This Substack has nothing to do with the film Everything Everywhere All at Once, although the title is fitting to the rest of this piece.
Next week you won’t receive a regular Substack from me. I’m taking a writing hiatus. In place of my usual rat-at-tat hilarious banter that you longingly wait for each Sunday, I’ll share a fiction piece that I’ve written. You’ll still get your weekly recipe from Kitchen Diaries on Wednesday, and I’ll return to your inbox on the 30th of October. By that point we’ll be discussing October’s Musings and we’ll cry together about how fast October has disappeared.
I’m taking this week off because I’ve noticed something about myself. When I feel “off” - call it depression, SAD, tiredness, the general feeling of contempt and bitterness for the state of the world - I neglect things. I’ll give you an example. I have a pile of clean laundry waiting in my room, and for the last five days I’ve been shuffling it from my bed to the floor and back. Just the other day the cat was buried beneath it and I didn’t even notice. At this rate, I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to just wash all the clothes again.
I’ve missed the gym for a few days in favour of remaining cocooned in the duvet and my usually great skincare routine has gone out the window; so far I’ve just let my skin crisp away in the cold, with not so much as a lick of moisturiser as protection. I don’t know if anybody else does this, but in a weird attempt to make up for not taking care of myself, I’ve overloaded myself with external activities to make it feel like I’ve been doing a lot - cooking non-stop, cleaning everything but my room, making excessive lists, and jam packing my weekend so there’s little time for a break.
I’ve trying to do Everything Everywhere All at Once and it’s making my brain do a 360° spin at a 100 miles an hour. So, I’m going to treat myself to a bit of rest; I’ll see you in a week’s time.
Five things I read this week:
Ariana Newhouse’s - “Stalk away your fear of men”
Mixed Feelings’s - “I’m confused about my mixed race identity”
Savour’s - “Sunday night tea”
NY Times - “If you want these birkenstocks, you may have to pay up”
The Cut’s - “Nature has its way of ending life. I’m changing the manner and the time.”